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Toyguru Mattycollector.com MOTUC News Thread May 2012

Like last year, instead of posting EVERY little thing in it's own post, I'll gather them ALL the relevant MOTUC Ask Matty postings here. Keep checking for updates! The old threads are ancient history and won't be updated anymore. This is the new spot until next month.

As always, I'll put the most recent news up first, while the old news is down the bottom.

Awhile back, you mentioned that there was a fairly crucial element to the Bio-Canon that appeared in the first 10 or so releases but which we fans hadn't quite caught. Have we done so yet? If not, could you enlighten us?

I don't read EVERY post, but iknow there were some hints in Faker's bio about events revealed later on.

Scott,
Just want to thank you and the new CS team for the fast response and turn around to my previous post and issue. I know you take a lot of flack for issues but for once I wanted to extend my sincere and public thanks.

I got my Slushhead and he is great! But I wanted to ask, what is the suggestion towards how long to keep water in his dome? If I were to leave it in there and not take it out will the paint and plastic be safe?

It should be good to go for display. But if you are going to store the figure we suggest draining him first.

The 30th is halfway over. Is there anymore Alvin Lee Style Guide Artwork that has yet to be revealed or has the whole style guide idea been scrapped due to some change?
There is no more planned at this time.

With new characters being added into the line this year, such as Draego-Man, Sir Laser-Lot, and the oft-discussed Mighty Spector, what hope do we have that these guys might be further cemented into the lore other than via their toy? When a similar question arose recently you mentioned the bios as a chance to further explore their influence on MOTU, but there seems like a golden opportunity being missed if that's all we get. I.E., the possibility of costume and accessory variations (in a similar vein to Thunderpunch He-man, Hurricane Hordak, etc.), and even in a more general sense the ability to see them 'live' and 'breath' in other media.

One would hope this might be addressed in the upcoming DC MOTU series in July, and given that you've allowed DC "free reign" hopefully James Robinson and crew will rope in these newer characters, because if not what hope do they have as anything other than one hit wonders? Seems a shameful waste of great potential.
All of these characters are now part of the MOTU mythos free for creators to include in any media. If DC choose to use them, that is great! We did include all of the new 2012 figs (except the contest winner) in the new mini comics.

I am a big fan of the MOTUC line. I am interested to know how Stinkor and Moss-Man's fragrances were manufactured into the figures. Were the processes the same? Moss-Man's is a lot stronger. Why is that?

Also I (and I think a lot of fans) would love to see a little documentary of how a MOTUC figure is made. We could see the Four Horsemen design stage, the buck and accessories manufacturing stage, the painting stage, and then the packaging stage.

The scents for both figs were mixed into the plastic in it's liquid stage and poured into the mold. Not all of the pieces are scented. For Stinkor I think it was the back and the shoulders that have the scent.

Last year you created a lot of buzz by telling us how many major MOTUC announcements you had in store for SDCC. Any word on how many major announcements we can expect this year?

The 2012 line had a lot of special items for the 30th. 2013 will not have the same type big announcements. It will be closer to the feel of the 2011 line. However, with the price increases we are experiencing we are looking at a slightly different roll out of skus. More details at SDCC.

Many of us who are attending SDCC need to know this important piece of information prior to pre-ordering:

It was stated that there will be a "gift with purchase" with Vykron. Will this "gift with purchase" also be extended to those of us pre-ordering as well? We would really like the opportunity to get this gift without needing to purchase the toy twice. It is not convenient to stand in BOTH the lines on the showfloor and the pre-order pickup line, which defeats the purpose of the pre-order system entirely. Please help in this regard.

Please clarify
Yes. If we do the gift you will get it whether you pre order or pick up at the booth.

Scott, can you please address the current issue of why so many are reporting that their Stinkor figures have zero Pouchuli smell? Did something happen in manufacturing where the original formula was not mixed in with the plastic as we were told it would be? Obviously mistakes happen in manufacturing all the time and there is only so much you- being stateside- can control where this is concerned (especially if your review samples have the smell), but this seems like a glaring oversight. Especially with a figure whose key original gimmick was... well... his odiferous smell.

If it does turn out that the smell wasn't mixed or some other manufacturing snafu prevented its proper application, is there any possibility of a later (fixed) release?
Every Stinkor figure I have seen has a scent. The smell was mixed into the plastic, so it will differ from figure to figure, but they all came from the same batch of plastic with the scent mixed in. Some may smell more or less, but they all have the scent mixed in.

Scott, I'm curious to know who your favorite mini-comic character is? And I don't mean a version of a character like Temple of Darkness Sorceress. Here's hoping we'll get a figure of a character unique to those mini-comics soon.

My May monthly Subscription order (which still has not shipped by the way) does not show in my order history.I also placed an order today on 5/21 and that order does not show in my order history.Why is this? So then recent orders no longer post on our order histories?

It almost feels like my orders are lost in the shuffle.Now,With that said,when are the Subscriptions going to ship(as the contract states when we signed up) 2 days before sales day? I have yet to have an order this year ship before and even on sales day.(where is the incentive perk here?)

Its pretty sad when day of sales orders are shipping before Subscribers.

Also,When you tell us to call the New U.S. based customer service team,who do we contact? When you call the Matty number it takes you to an overseas operator. Thanks

Yuo need to call CS for this type of question. This forum is for brand and product questions for marketing.

the CS group will pass off any issues that can't be resolved by them immmediatly to the US team on a case by case basis.

It has been mentioned that there is a possibility of different variants of Snakemen army builder two-pack (green, red and other colors and designs of Snakemen). I really like this idea and wanted to ask: Does the same approach hold for other types of army builders? For example Palace Guards? In several MOTU media (including MYP) there were also Palace Guards who were dressed more like knights. Firefighters were mentioned by fans too, or maybe the generic robots who were guarding the prison in MYP?

Is there any way to contact the new competent USA based CS team? Once again my subs were not shipped together, I have currently been on hold 43 minutes to get this dealt with. This is unacceptable, I asked on these forums well before the sale happen for a guarantee that shipping will be combined, you said "yes"

Now after a 30 minute phone call I'm told to wait 3 days for a response to getting my shipping refunded for subs shipping separately. (not even going to get into why the DCIE says Flash was $20, and my total is $180)

So how do we the customer contact the competent customer service who can help us without just pushing us off the phone being told we will get emailed within 72 hours?

I'll pass this off for you, but you do need to call the standard cusotmer service line to reach CS. This forum is for product and brand questions.

I know most of us have had issues with DR in one form or another.
The latest one for me was not getting my 2 MOTU subs (Club Eternia and 30th) combined, I contacted CS and this was sorted out promptly.

I sent my request via the e-mail form on the site May 11th.
Got a response from John Mark L. on the 12th that this would be looked into.
And just yesterday the 21st I got a confirmation that the shipping refund is being processed.

So, just a shout out to the new CS team,
Hopefully this is the first step to a much better experience for customers of the awesome MOTU lines!
Fantastic! Glad to know the new group is working out. We really are trying to improve things!

I know you are currently gleefully torturing Pixel Dan (and consequently all of us) with various slices of pics from upcoming Mosquitor, but I'm curious if you can tell the fans if he is coming in 2012 or early 2013? Admittedly it may be too early to say, but if you can I'd greatly appreciate it!

My Red Lion never shipped.. But I got Yellow. Never heard back from CS. My Eternia and 30th shipped separate in April and I got the refund but now May shipped separate. I've seen no sign of my Flash figure shipping. To top this all off I cannot for the life of me find my original sub order from around SDCC. So what exactly is my recourse here?

I passed your post to CS. Best to give them a call as well. Our new US based CS team is getting things like this turned around very fast and any corrections made.

Thank you guys for Mechaneck. His reveal made my year as a fan, even after getting all these great figures this year, you still managed to knock it out of the park for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

I honestly have to say thanks to Scott (Toy Guru) and The 4 Horsemen for the figures released this year so far.

Figures like Fisto, Stinkor, Thunder Punch and Kobra Kahn, Draego-Man, Spikor, Horde Prime and the Snakemen 2pk really justify the price increase and give us a little vision of what's to come. I just can't wait to see what's gonna be done with figures like Clamp Champ, Jitsu, Mantenna, Rio Blast and Ram-Man.

That is what this line needed, more accessories and more display options of our all time favorites. I just want to encourage Mattel to keep on bringing us quality and quantity and these great ideas, since the fans have proved once more, that we support this line. So keep us in mind when you make new decisions throughout this year and the next to come.

The idea of making the reveals to the subscribers through email is genius. So many of us get emails through our phones, making this reveal very immediate and personal. Thank you and please keep it up. It would be great to have subscribers able to buy the SDCC exclusives first, too.
We won't have that in place for this year but a great idea for future years! So noted.

A recent discussion in the MOTUC board regarding the possible materials that might be used for Squeeze brought this topic to mind. I know the bendy material used in making such features for various Matty produced figures came under fire recently when it turned out Snout Spout's trunk eventually degrades/cracks. However, you have demonstrated a successful ability to use this feature in the past- (i.e., Plastic-Man, King Hiss, who am I missing?). When/if you get to a key snakeman like Squeeze is it possible to retain his bendable arm 'feature' by reusing the material used for King Hiss rather than something like swap out hard plastic inserts such as have been used on Mekanek's neck? I for one would L-O-V-E to see the spirit of Squeeze's original feature retained rather than sacrificed by going hard plastic if at all possible. Thanks TG!

We don't have a Squeeeze figure in development right now so this type of conversation simply has not happened. Cool ideas!

well if the 2012 line was set in 2010 and the 2013 line is et as well can u at least tell us if we will be seeing anymore of the POP females in the remaining three figures of 2012 and the 2013 sub. Or if some of our favorite ladies will make an appearance ay SDCC. If the line is set as u say what does it hurt to say we will see one more POP this year and say three in 2013 it still leaves us wondering who?

When it comes time for 2014, we will lift the figures from the original roll out matrix created in 2009 like we do each year. We have made some slight adjustments here and there over the years and have worked in fan suggestions (many of these adjustments came when we changed the line up over the years like when we added Beasts, Variants and Filmation characters).

But for the most part have stayed pretty true to the original roll out matrix. This was done deliberately to ensure each year has a good variety and we don't burn through characters too quickly.

While your favorite figure may not be coming next month, it doesn't mean he she or it won't be here before you know it!

I did see this. And I can tell you by the time we hit 2016 fans will feel they have a very complete collection. We have the line thought out month to month slot by slot to ensure each year is a diverse selection and we don't burn through characters too quickly.

Over the years, some of us POP fans have speculated that, had a Crystal Caverns playset been made in the 80s for the Star Sisters, it would have been a revamped Fright Zone with some different parts and accessories. Could you consider making these playsets?

If memory serves me right, the vintage Fright Zone comes apart in three sections. Two of these can definitely be 100% shared with the Crystal Caverns. The third section with the gate can be too with some creative adjustments.

For a Crystal Caverns set, all Mattel would really have to do is make it translucent plastic, change the gate to a crystal barrier (as per my friend Kevenn's suggestion), and toss in an additional two or so items in place of the tree and hand puppet. Perhaps it could come with Star Crystals for the figures...or even an actual figure like the Celestial Witch.

If we did a playset, I promise it would be Castle Grayskull first. After that, who knows, but nothing like any of this is planned right now.

With almost every single core character in the motuc universe released, with the anouncement of mekaneck, and probably being ram man the only one that is left to be released, how are you guys supposed to keep the line alive beyond 2013?

We've said this many times and I have entire blogs dedicated to this. The line was thought out through 2016 back in 2009 month to month, slot by slot to ensure we hit all of the key figures without burning through figures too quickly.

So we built this factor into day 1 and so far it has worked out rather well. Getting Filmation and other rights only helped us expand the line even further beyond 2016. Who knows how long the line will last! But we have it very well thought out for quite a few years to come to ensure we don't burn out too quickly. We did this from very early on for just this reason.

Thank you for answering my question. I'd just like to say that I and all the POP fans I speak with daily really love all the POP stuff we have gotten so far. It's not like we don't count The Star Sisters or Shadow Weaver as POP of course we do. POP fans just want to see more of the vintage figure characters released (Glimmer, Netossa, etc)

I think the general feeling is that fans just want to see more of the characters that had vintage figures. You know that most fans feel it's insane that we don't have Glimmer yet for example. POP is much loved more so than NA that's a fact and I guess with so few female rebels done fans start to get disillusioned.

The POP stuff so far has been great but it does include 3 variantions of the same character (She-Ra) while were still missing core rebels like Glimmer, Queen Angella and Castaspella. I think fans just want to see the demand met really since the POP girls get just as much love as the Ram Man's and Mantenna's on request threads and polls. Glimmer, Scorpia and Castaspella are 3 of the most requested figures out there currently.

Many people want to see better representation of POP in the line which means we want the POP figures we had as kids just like the MOTU fans are getting. I think most POP fans expect to see Glimmer, Queen Angella and Castaspella by the end of 2013 and you can throw Scorpia into that mix now also. These characters should be sooner rather than later.

5 POP figures (so far...) in 2012 is a pretty good representation I think!

We have the line thought out month to month for several years. In time, you will see quite a few holes filled in. We did this on purpose to ensure each year is a good offering without burning through too many characters too quickly.

Old Mekaneck looks great but how can you honestly justify to one of the largest sections of the fan base (POP fans) just giving us Frosta from the vintage line this year. It's a total slap in the face to POP fans.

Why should any POP fan ever buy a sub again?, it's not like if the line ended soon we would lose out on any of the POP girls anyway since there is clearly no real intention to get all the vintage POP figures done.

If 2014 is the earliest you can make changes then please start listenting to fan requests and look at the polls.

I read this on the boards a lot, and some fans I personally feel, drill down a bit too much. If you are asking for POP, we have done 5 so far this year, all are female, 4 are part of the Great Rebellion and all had toys out or in development in the 1980s.

If you are a POP fan, that's a lot already announced.
But if you drill down like this:

POP >>> Females >>>> appeared on animated show >>>> appeared in vintage line >>>> released as a single monthly release

it is my personal thought that you are drilling down too far and should perhaps step back and look at POP in general and how much stuff has shipped. From Swiftwind to Frosta to Adora to Catra, their has been quite a lot with a lot more coming in years to come!

Anyone else notice on their mailer box for Stinkor that it lists his real name at the bottom as Lt. Spector? Am I missing something or did these characters merge somewhere in the Bio's and I misread? Pretty sure they just messed up on the printing.

That is not his real name. Any names on the white shipper at the bottom or back are there for legal reasons, not due to the figure.

As we've seen "He-Men" from the past such as Wun-Dar and Vikor made in the Classics line, will we ever see Kings from Eternia's past such as King Tamusk, for example? Featured in "The Time Wheel" with the moniker of being the last of Eternia's Sorcerer Kings, what are the odds that such a character could be featured in MOTUC?

I quite often lurk around he-man.org and the matty forums, jumping in and out all day and keeping up to speed...

My question is.. do you Toyguru, realise you may have a fanbase yourself?

I very much envy that you get to work on this amazing line with all the MOTU info on upcoming releases and products. I can tell you are passionate about this line and you deserve full credit for everything you've achieved in bringing MOTU back to us in the best way possible.

I've made posts personally on the matty forums and have sometimes been taken back when you answer my questions personally. Now this is something very very rare to happen, but you do it. People don't know how lucky they are conversing one on one with the team leader on such matters etc. I for one hold you in the highest regard and think that this line is a success due to your skills and passion for what you do.

I will continue to have my MOTU subs for as long as they exist. I love every figure produced and love the new characters we are getting also. I'm glad you got the chance to see your design come to be with Mighty Spector. He's a great figure! As they all are! Love your bios and attention to the timeline, and the way you listen to so much fan demand (and there IS tons of it) and bring alot of what you hear as feedback into fruition.

Otha's been stated that every year was PURPOSELY planned with a balance of A-List characters, vintage, POP, NA, MYP,and so on. With the recent reveals what A-Listers are left to draw fans to subscribe Ram Man, Jitdu, Two Bad, and Mantenna so we have one A-Lister left for each of the remaining four years?

2012 and 2013 are already set. The soonest we can make a change now is to a potential 2014 line that we are starting to look at now. This line will be locked in once we see how big or small the sub sales are for 2013 in July.

A calendar.
An easy interface calendar with all the various sale dates to click on and view the announced releases, not to mention credit charge dates and possibly even show delay dates or whatever possible info fans are aloud to have.

And that is on the list along with getting a subscription management page and many other upgrades we are working on.

In the last fortnightly Q&A it was stated: The Horsemen make sculpting choices (like how many eyes to give Webstor) but it is up to Mattel designers to translate the Horsemen non articulated sculpt into a functional toy and sometimes changes are made for logistical, aesthetic or safety/assembly reasons.

When we look at the prototypes etc from the 4H we think they are articulated because they are 'cut' and have joints. Is Mattel design's defintion of 'fully articulated' something specific that is not the same as what us consumers would think of?

The Horsemen Protos are sculpted statues that "look like articulated figures but they are not articulated. They are held together very loosely with pegs. Tanslating a non articulated sculpt into an articulated figures often means design changed are needed. That is what Terry and now Ruben do.

Since a lot of figures have some 200x influence like the sword that comes with Man-at-arms and Fisto, how about doing this for Trap Jaw? You gotta admit that his mechanical arm looks so much more awesome than the vintage look. Something like a new arm/shoulder design as an addition to the figure might be an idea?

Anything is possible but no plans for a new Trap Jaw right now. We have very limited slots and are likely to tackle new characters or legitimate variants (like Battle Armor He-Man) vs slight tweaks to existing figures.

Why don't you produce some music CD including back ground music of Motu and POP Filmation series?
They are mythic and there are several polls which prove that customers are ready to buy this kind of item.

On the other hand, in Japan, every little series declines its BGM cd, and they are sold all around the world.
Definately something we'd love to see happen but no plans right now.

Think about it, Mighty Spector is a time/dimension traveller. Say he comes in tact with the end of time, the path of least resistance in time travel. Zombies rule, he get's infected, tries to go back in time to stop the event, but due to the sickness his new cosmic key malfunctions and he ends up causing the infection of the techno virus that infected He-Ro. Then He-Ro ofcourse dies and fills Eternia with magic and technology. and Zombie Spector ultimately destroys his cosmic key to avoid it falling into evil hands, but not before Skeletor captures him and uses the zombie virus to resurrect Megator. I always wonder who takes down Zombie Megator, who better than Zombie Spector.

Just sayin' lol.

Yes, Zombie Spector could take down Zombie Megator, but not Zombie Randor

Since the 30th anniversary sub has turned out to be such a success with the all new designed characters, is there a chance of a bi monthly sub line for filmation? I know that you guys are going to sprinkle them in the classics line but it would be great to get some variants and some never produced figures and to get them out to us fans faster.

even a variant line? I know that a lot of people would buy a filmation clawful, hordak, he-man, mer-man and skeletor in a heartbeat and they wouldn't require too much tooling.

You will need to wait for SDCC to learn the details about the 2013 line!

Will There Be Action Figures of The Masters Of The Universe Characters As Seen In DC Comics'He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe Six-Issue Mini-Series?
Right now we don't have plans beyond the Classics line. But it is always possible if a new character is introduced in the series he or she could be "Classic-ized" much like Carnivus or Marzo etc...

TG, in your commentaries you share a lot of stories about you and your friends playing with your He-man toys as kids, I was wondering if you still kept in contact with them and if they get to see everything you're doing now, now that you're responsible for the resurrection of the brand and have the biggest say in what goes on in the line?

I actually did loose touch with my friend Shaun after grammar school when I moved to Calif. I do wonder what he would think!

Will you ever consider resealable boxes for the figures? I have 4 figures now, but haven't unpacked them because of the box. But it is too expensive for me to buy each figure 2 times, and I want to be able to put the figures back in the package wihtout the irreversible damaging. Oh yeah, will King Grayskull reissue be released again?

Not a this time. Every collector has his or her individual habits and we simply can't adjust the line to work for everyone's specific needs. But cool idea!

Can we get an page on mattycollector.com that has a current list of what is coming out in each month? Seems like an easy way to help the fans know what to 'save' for each month. It could include MOTUC Beast, MOTUC figure, Voltron lion etc.

With all the changes that have happened so far it would be helpful to have a rough idea of what is coming when. Just have a little legal blurb everything subject to change, and update it when delays happen.

I was just wondering if you had any new info on the arrival of Golden age Flash and Mighty Spector? I have a 2012 Club Eternia & 30th Anniversary subs and they are combined for shipping so my order is still in process untill Spector shows up >.<

It's funy because my day of sale Stinkor that I just bought yesterday already shipped and will arrive UPS Ground Monday but my combined subs are in limbo due to Spector.

Any new info on the arrival of the two figures holding up subscription shipments would be great

Originally Frosta was the August figure (pushed back into Sept).
Tonight, you said she is now the September figure.

Is there no longer an August figure or will one of the last 3 months have 2 figures again?

Frosta is still in Sept.

The reveal will now be for the Oct figure. (what was the "second" Sept figure we mentioned at NYCC.). Since Aug did not have a figure, there will still be a month with two figures. It may be Oct, but it won't be Sept anymore. We'll confirm all at SDCC.

Despite all the schedule slips, we will get to everything in the calendar year. They just may not all be in the intended month.And we reworked 2013 so that everything is now coming in well ahead of the on sale date (2-3 months) so it should be a much smoother year!

Still. No matter what - what amazing figs are coming soon. I seriously can't wait for the SDCC reveals. The sculpt are coming in. Some clear fan demanded figure in the lot for sure this year!

I know the 2002 era style is retired, and this relates to the hyper detailed face, wind blown hair and exaggerated muscles. I see lots of questions that relate to He-Man getting his 2002 era armours and weapons but what about a He-Man head that resembles a 2002 Adam?

I'd really love to see a youthful Adam with the shorter hair but done in the classics style.I know there's only one He-Man in the Classics media but perhaps when he was a bit younger he might have had a different hair style? Include that with an upcoming He-Man variant and we can avoid the ugly 'heads pack' situation!

And don't worry, I'm not asking for that style to return, I'm very happy with the classics, I'd just like a little variety for display purposes.

Doing a teen Adam would be possible. But he would be done in Classics style with out the design elements unique to the 200X style.

I guess this is two questions really. With the snake men 2 pack coming out is there any chance of that and the guards 2 pack being put on the essentials list like He-Man and Skeletor? Secondly, I know things are planned a few years in advance but if Horde Troopers are made what are the chances of them being 2 packs? I'd love to get more army builder figures.

Last month my subscriptions were not shipped together like they were suppose to. I got an email telling me I would be refunded the extra shipping and that it would be fixed next month. I got my subscription renewal emails and they are still not shipping together.

It is possible you ordered your subs with different shipping methods. In order for the subs to ship together they need to have the same shipping type. Just call CS and have them check this and make any changes.

Scott For a few monthes now the MattyCollector site won't let customers view the invoice for their orders. When we click on invoice we get the following error message below.

You are in charge of MattyCollector so when can this get fixed so that we can look up our orders invoice to see the breakdown of charges from figures to State tax to shipping cost?

We are working on getting a "my subscription" page up and running (ideally before SDCC). We launched it before and it wasn't working right so we pulled it back into beta testing. We won't relaunch it until it works.

So, do we need to contact customer service about the shipping refund for those of us whose orders didn't combine? Because I just got a shipping notice for the MOTUC half of the subs today (Stinkor & Slushhead). Of course, no shipping notice for Spector yet. Even though they're all supposed to ship together. So do I need to e-mail DR or call them or what about this?

Yes, do contact CS. However, we did find that one reason subs are not combining is because some customer choose different shipping methods. In order for your subs to combine you needed to have chosen the same shipping method. CS can help you fix this if need be.

I see Funko is making their stylized figures from just about every licensed character, so, why not MOTU? If DC figures are being made don't you think MOTU would be successful? Pass the torch to them and collect a percentage from the sales, fans have more motu figures and everybody wins.

5) The 2002 version of Teela was a fan favorite character from the cartoon. Since the 2002 style for head sculpts won't be used, is it possible to get a MOTUC figure of Teela, based on the 2002 costume but with a head sculpt using the current style that the 4H uses?

A) It is always "possible" but their really aren't that many differences and when you "Classic-size" the 2002 outfit it is really close to what we have now.

The 200X Teela's outfit might be similar to Teela's Classic outfit, but it's the ponytailed head and age of the character that make her desired by some fans. She's a younger Teela that fits in with the younger 200X Prince Adam, if fans enjoy those versions of Adam and Teela instead of the grown-up Classic versions. If you work on a teenage girl buck, it could be reused for Evil-Lyn's apprentice-look when she met Keldor or a possible teenaged Adora to match Adam. And that's for starters with all the Filmation characters that you have access to.

Please keep these ideas in mind if you are discussing this particular incarnation for the future.

If you are asking about doing a younger 16 year old Teela, yeah, I suppose that would be different enough and would need a new teen girl buck. But now you are also talking about a full tool and that means it would compete with other full tool figures like Ram Man or Gwildor or Zombie Spector. (just kidding on the last one)

You mentioned that "in 2013 we are dramatically raising prices so we can afford more paint and accessories." While I think many fans are ok with price increases to insure we get all the accessories and the best paint apps, what price do you have in mind when you say you will "dramatically" raise prices? Are we looking at $25 per single figure? $30?
We'll have these details at SDCC at our fan panel.

First you lied at NYTF when I asked if there were any more Motuc crossovers, but I will forgive you on that one. My question, when are we going to see the new car! SDCC preview page hasn't been updated and any idea on the price point for it?

At NYCC this item was not planned yet. So at the time my statement was true. The toy industry is constantly changing which makes it hard to make any statement. Something I say one day could 100% change the next.

As for price, you will need to check with our friends on Hotwheelscollector.com!

Teela is the new sorceress, clamp-champ the new man-at-arms, the new king is he-man, there is the son of Evil-lyn and Keldor. You say things like "The story moves forward! We want to introduce new character and new situations" or Dare Being an ideal candidate to help an the line evolve or about SOH figures "They are definitely figures We have Talked about, but nothing to announce remove yet. Stay tuned! "

I feel the future of motuc (actually motu) will be about a new era-the next generation

That isn't out of the question, but keep in mind we are not releasing MOTUC figures in chronological order. Some figures will be from the past, the present or the future!

New storylines and new characters simply offer a way to keep the line going after we exhaust all the vintage figures etc.. (which ideally will happen one day!)

I'll be honest, my first thoughts when I heard this was "great, a price increase to get more accessories and paint apps, all with the same shocking QC issues that we have now."

On he-man-org. you explained it by saying:Labor and raw material have gone up. Factors we have zero control over.

We are not making any more margin on the figures. Our margins (i.e. profit for non biz majors)are flat. Price increases are 100% because the raw cost to produce the figures has skyrocked since 2008. We could keep prices at 2008 costs, but then we would need to majorly reduce accessories and deco.

Just look at retail lines. 3 3/4 figures at retail are over 10.00 in 2012 and 6" figures are between 16 and 20. We just can't produce these figures for what we could in 2008 when we set prices.

We are choosing to increase prices in 2013 vs cost reduce the figures (like we had to do in 2012 removing deco and accessories). It was a tough call!

Now I can understand that, but there's a flip side to this and an issue many of us have with the price hike. The old saying is "if you pay penuts, you get monkey" and so if wages were lower, then the old saying applies.

However what we've been seeing is shocking QC, with no concrete sign of things improving, and now we're being told we'll have to pay more, with no sign of QC, meaning to paraphase "we're paying more, but we're still getting monkeys".

If prices are going up dramatically as you claim, then what guarantee do we have as fans that QC issues will be as dramatically reduced as the price will be dramatically increased (surely if labour costs resulted in contracts being negotiated, then non-performance clauses were put into contracts) so they can justify spending dramatically more on figures in 2013?

We always do our best to control QC. There is never a guarantee that there will not be QC issues but we do our best to control them. All figures are assembled and painted by hand so their will always be some level. You simply can't eliminate this fully. There is always human error. But we are committed to doing our best!

Higher prices pay for more accessories and paint ops. Not more tooling. Toling is a fixed cost based on sales. We have had to cut accessories and deco this year due to rising costs. We will raise prices next year to account for these rising costs in raw material and labor. Tooling is a seperate budget and not affected by raising prices.

I was wondering if you can tell us if there will be any characters switching sides in the MOTUC bios???? We know Rattlor and Tung Lashor had defected to the Horde and back as depicted in both mini-comics and Filmation. I always liked the idea of Tri-klops and Mekaneck switching sides as well.

With the revelation that there will be "a dramatic price increase" with the line in 2013 there exists a possibility that the line could suffer sales wise--especially considering that the 2012 sub had the highly sought after Shadow Weaver as the exclusive incentive and early on Sorceress, Fisto were revealed as 2012 sub figures--yet according to you there was a dip in sales.

So is there enough flexibility in your long term planning to make adjustments in character slots to get us the rest of the vintage MOTU and Popupdates(Madame Razz, Kowl, Glimmer, Castaspella, Scorpia, Two Bad Jitsu, Mekaneck, Mantenna, Modulok and RAM MAN for example) should the line not last until 2016/17 as originally envisioned. It would be so frustrating if things start going south and you give us NA or concept characters before we can complete the vintage updates. As the Ghostbusters line and the DCUC line as shown there is no guarantee of how long a toyline has before it fades and if anything the DCUC line has shown is that focus should be on introducing a handful of teams and wrapping them up before starting on another team because no one wants gaps because a toy company tries to drag out heavy hitters.

We will keep the line going as long as their are customers buying. But, yes, as I stated on Roast Gooble dinner, one day these figures will cost more to make then fans are willing to pay. Hopefully that day will be far in the future.

I was wondering how you can justify the price increase with all the other issues going on? The only way I can see this going over well would be if you announced that you will be dropping DR and using another company that would make all fans happy . But with all the QC issues I just cant see them being over $22 a figure . If thats the case I know I am out of this line.

Labor and raw material have gone up. Factors we have zero control over.

We are not making any more margin on the figures. Our margins (i.e. profit for non biz majors)are flat. Price increases are 100% because the raw cost to produce the figures has skyrocked since 2008. We could keep prices at 2008 costs, but then we would need to majorly reduce accessories and deco.

Just look at retail lines. 3 3/4 figures at retail are over 10.00 in 2012 and 6" figures are between 16 and 20. We just can't produce these figures for what we could in 2008 when we set prices.

We are choosing to increase prices in 2013 vs cost reduce the figures (like we had to do in 2012 removing deco and accessories). It was a tough call!

The latest pictures posted on the Matty Collector Facebook page shows the cardback of SMAA with most of the released Evil Horde figures. Is this a final choice and if so what was the thinking behind this? I really expected to see him with other snake men and maybe even 200x characters like Chief Carnivus and Count Marzo. Thanks!

btw- I love that He-Man and She-Ra are both on the back of Horde Primes's card

Yeah. Better cross sell figures would have been nice. Can't win em all

Hi TG! I was wondering if you are still going to wear a "The Mighty Spector" costume to SDCC? If you don't want to wear all that spandex, it would be hilarious if you made it like one of the cheap 80's costumes: a mask and then a one-piece plastic outfit that has a picture of the character and says "I am The Mighty Spector"! lol Those always crack me up.

Hey, Scooter, ol' pal! Can you clear up some confusion I'm seeing around the boards: When MAA and Clamp Champ fight, does Duncan get "mortally wounded" BEFORE Teela changed him back or after? The way the Bio is written made it seem as though he is changed back first. If that's the case, did he turn back into a Snake and then get wounded?

I don't want to spoil anything, and if this occurs in one if the minis, that's great-but if you could clarify for some of us confused fans, we'd love you that much more.

Any hint as to when we may see the first MOTUC figure of someone from the vintage poster art or Monogram Boxart? It would be so cool to see the Wind Raider Pilot or some of those mystery riders in the MOTU Monogram vehicle boxart finally made. Thanks

Maybe soon, maybe far. We can't comment past Frosta right now. But we are looking at these type of figures.

in the Tytus bio on the MC-site you can read the updated version. In this version you can't read anything about his death. In the first version Tytus died in battle against megator. Now it seems he survived the Battleground.

What is now the right version?

By the way: In the bio from the Matty Orko Version it is still written about 5 centuries, should be 5000 years.

I know you are doing this regularly for SDCC attendees & for 2013 subscribers for this year. But why not have this often with all kinds of fans (Subscribers & DOS Buyers) ? Especially when you have to make some tough design choices & deco on certain figures (Like how you did with Man-E-Faces). It will certainly help you guys with some elief ! It will also make fans think “Yes, Mattel listen's our opinion” !!!

Yuor best bet is to post online. We review online posts all the time and take them into consideration as we plan the line. We will continue to do special polls for SDCC attendees to reward those who make it out to the show.

....Love to hear thoughts on what else fans are looking for. Maybe it is still something we can do?"

NOTE :- Honestly, These Inputs Are NOT Just By Me ! Dont Think Its Just "One Fan's" Thought... I Am NOT Speaking For Myself. Yes, not all feels the same, BUT The MAJORITY Thinks This Way !!!

Since This Is YOUR Invitation & YOU Asked For It, Here’s my suggestions which may help you to satisfy majority of the fans with less pain involved. (Yes, some may look tougher from your side, but I am sure it will give us loads of happiness & a big relief about the future!

Exclusive SUB For Filmation Core Variants : Every time when we Filmation fans ask for Filmation Core Variants such as Skeletor, Teela, Evil-Lyn, Mer-Man ETC, you seem to misunderstand the whole point by saying “No plans of doing a separate animated line at this time” OR “They are quite similar with their MOTUC counterparts, hence we can’t warrant these variants" ! I dont know what makes to think that we are looking for “Dumbed Down” (“animated” & “simple designs” in your words) variants in MOTUC ! but the TRUTH IS, HELLL NO ! NOBODY IS LOOKING FOR THAT ! That’s NOT We Are Asking For !! 10 out 1000 may want that way, but the majority of the Filmation fans feel that All Filmation Variants Should Be Made In Classics Style !

YES I KNOW ! Regular SUB holders will not be happy to see these variants included in their regular Club Eternia Subscriptions. So the only possible & best way to go is by making a “Exclusive Filmation Variants Subscription” !!! It should work exactly like the 30th Anniversary SUB. 6 Figures a year with 1 being released every 2 months ! Just TRY this just for 1 YEAR & see what happens. I am sure this will make lot of Filmation fans happy & this may even bring back some of the “older” fans (cartoon fans from the past) into the line. Honestly, with TRU 2 packs are no more, MOTUC line definitely needs something like this as a vehicle for getting all these beloved variants at a quicker pace !!

Don’t Hesitate Doing 2.0 Versions : Fans have applauded you in the past for correcting He-Man’s reverse shoulder, Skeletor’s open arm, She-Ra’s Peg Hole design ETC. But why this kind of attitude is missing lately ? Whenever there is screw up with a figure, you simply respond, “Oh… so sorry for that ! But this is your figure". It is almost like "Get It OR Get Out" situation ! Will this kind of rude approach encourage new fans coming into this line ? The list keeps getting bigger Scott…. Like the Goddess with exploding crotch piece, Adora’s Granny Skirt design, King Hssss & Roboto’s reverse shoulders & most recently, Sorceress “Drum” Shoulders & Stinkors forearms screwup ! Yes, few of those were design flaws & not errors. But it is a flaw none the less ! How can you expect fans to pay their hard earned money for figures which contains flaws & errors by Mattel ? To correct all these mess ups, there is only one solution...... 2.0 versions ! Now this is something quite similar to what you did with He-Man & Skeletor in the past (well, I know 2.0 versions are more than that. But hey, remember Bubble Power She-Ra ?). So don’t hesitate to do it again. It’s the only BEST & IDEAL solution which can make fans happy !!

Give Us a Deluxe, Ultimate He-Man 2.0 That We All Looking For : IMO, this would have been a “more fitting” SDCC Exclusive for the 30th Anniversary! A He-Man figure with Filmation & 200X heads & accessories. wOw……. Golden opportunity missed I should say !! But it’s NEVER TOO LATE though ! You have the power & you can give us this year if you think so !!

Give Us The 200X Heads : I know it was your upper management which came up with this “Ban” (Retirement in your words), But guess what…… you could have sold MORE Buzz-Offs, Clawfuls, & Robotos with the help of 200X heads ! Hence, the upper management has also “banned” some extra profit from Mattel’s account. In simple words, Mattel Lost Extra Money !!! So give us the 200X heads & see the difference !!!

Make Us International Fans Happy : Everything seemed to be fine till November. But ever since the distribution began from Sweden, it's nothing but complete mess ! Few customers like me are STILL waiting for our February Subscription Figures ! With Sorceress & Fisto’s CS stocks exhausted, what should we do now ? Who is responsible for these delays ? Who is responsible If our packages gets lost ? Oh yeah…. We’ll be getting a refund right ? If money is our first priority, then why bother buying figures, waiting for over 2 months & ending with refund ? Oh wait…. We’ll have to try “faster shipping method” by paying $45.00 shipping for a single $22.00 figure right ? DOES THAT MAKES ANY SENSE ? The fact is DR has lost its track on International shipping method ! Please try to correct that make us international fans happy !!!!!

These are all great suggestions. 200X heads are off the table as that style is retired. All figures in MOTUC will be in Classics style. We'd love to get to a He-Man 2.0 but it won't be for at least serveral years (if at all) as we still have plenty of stock of 1.0 to sell before we would even consider a new version.

Since SMAA will be his "LAST" disguise (technically in terms of look & appearance as per MOTUC Bios), what are the possibilities of his future variants & bios ? Since any of his “future” bios can’t go forward, will it be talking about his young days of serving Man-At-Arms ?

Speaking of variants, most of fans like me had a great opportunity to make "vintage colour MAA" brown loin cloth & brown boots) of him. But thanks to "SMAA Flame Wars", he was completely transformed to his 200X look ! If you think making a vintage deco MAA will be a straight repaint, then Filmation MAA is the ONLY possible way to go !!

We certianly can look at that. MOTUC covers all time lines and all vairants. We are not releasing figures in chronological order if you will! If that was the case we would have started with He-Ro, not He-Man (or something like that)

With the recent pictures of the Horde Prime figure in the package, it looks like the final product has lost paint applications such as silver on the armor rivets and grey on his belt. Was this change a result of cutting costs on the figure (in addition to losing his staff) or was it a design change? I really hope it wasn't a design change because the Four Horsemen prototype was much better.

The Horsemen tend to "overdeco" figures. Every figure in 2012 is delivering $22.00 worth of paint apps. In 2013 we are dramatically raising prices so we can afford more paint and accessories. If we wanted to deliver all the figures exactly as the 4HM painted the protos we would need to charge more and we already sold in the sub for 2012, so that is not an option. Legally we can't raise prices on the sub after it is sold in. This is why we will start 2013 at higher prices.

Vykron's bio mentions the former lord of the Vine Jungle - Choloh.
His name was also exclaimed by Beast Man in a DC comic, which leads me to believe that Choloh might have been his master once.
Is Mark Taylor's Red Beast going to be Choloh?
I think that'd be a REALLY great and logical way of including him as a character.

Personally I'd prefer the gorilla like design to be Choloh (at least if that's your plan Wink). But both designs are so different that each of them deserves to be made.

I'm sure we'll just have to wait and see and keep reading the bios, but... ...what do you think about that thought, Scott?

As a follow up to MegaGearMax's question, does this mean that, like last December, if the Windraider does not sell out in three days that will be considered a failure? A three-day sellout is THAT bad, even if the quota was smaller?
"sell out" times and their success are propriatory information for Mattel that we do not share. What I can tell you is we did an extremly small number of units of the WR last winter and the fact that it took 3 days to sell through so few units is what made it only a "so-so" item.

First i think Vykron is an absolute appropriate SDCC exclusive, celebrating the 30th anniversary.(Hope we΄ll get our Oo-Larr with Alcala head in the sub).
My question is, who sculpted him and which references where used?
Do you still have the original Sweet dudes?

He was sculpted and designed by the Four Horsemen like every other MOTUC figure. We do not have the original figures but we do have pictures of them in our archive and this is what we used as reference.

There΄s a buzz going around that the 4H aren΄t as involved in classics as they used to be and that Vykron was made by Mattel design. Is this just the internet being the internet or is Mattel design indeed doing more classics stuff in house?

This is 100% false. The Horsemen designed Vykron and will be working on MOTUC as far as we can get them to!

Recently a Horde Prime test shot pictures have been floating around the net and it appears his shoulders might be backwards (like Roboto's). I know you said that Draego-Man and Horde Prime's shoulders were new tools so this doesn't happen again.

Does your Horde Prime sample figure have correct shoulders?

Here are a couple pictures from the various times we saw Horde Prime where they are correct:

The circuitry is supposed to line up on the front:

Side shot:

Please let us know. Thanks TG.

I persoinally checked him early on. He does have corrected shoulders. Pay no attention to any illegal shots. Only look at offical shots from Mattel!

Have you guys ever considered offering a Classic MOTUC vehicle for an SDCC exclusive? It would be sure to sell due to the hype and hard to get nature of most Comic Con exclusives. Besides, fans go to Comic Con with lots of money to spend on exclusives, so there aren't any surprise holiday gifts that interfere with your sales like the initial offering of the Wind Raider back in December.

We weren't even able to sell enough Windraiders as is. There is just too much tooling involved and not enough customers to do more vehicles right now. Customer's vote with their purchase and the WR just did not sell well enough. We'll have to see how it does when it comes back this summer.

A while back TG said that it wasn't the time it took to sell out but how few were sold, and that they didn't produce THAT many because they weren't sure it would sell that well. So basically the WR was never going to sell enough units to make them happy because they decided to hedge their bets and not make enough for that to happen.

I wish he would just be honest with us, instead of giving us information we know is false, like the Windraider nonsense. But I guess we should be used to it by now.

Originally Posted by MegaGearMax

It's the speed which was the problem. Mattel wanted 10 minute sellouts.

I'm confused why this is still misunderstood and misrepresented. I think it's been pretty clearly laid out for us. They didn't make a ton of these, so the low production numbers combined with the days it took to sell out are why it wasn't a considered a home run. Remember, it wasn't a FAILURE. It was okay.

I understand that they sold out the wind raiders they put on sale. Now as far as them not making enough to sell to make a profit worth making a second vehicle is a little pointless. Why spend 500 dollars to only make 510?

Either way I'm saving money by them not making more vehicles....I'm a completist....well maybe not...I haven't bought those stupid figure stands yet!!! haha

I'm confused why this is still misunderstood and misrepresented. I think it's been pretty clearly laid out for us. They didn't make a ton of these, so the low production numbers combined with the days it took to sell out are why it wasn't a considered a home run. Remember, it wasn't a FAILURE. It was okay.

I think the problem with this is an answer we received in the mid-April QnA's. It was something like, it doesn't matter how long but as long as the quota gets sold.

I think the point was that they didn't make what they'd consider enough to really be profitable to begin with to keep making vehicles. It was probably enough to cover the cost of that one vehicle plus some extra. But for future vehicles it wouldn't make sense at that level. That was just my interpretation though. I know that strikes some people as odd, but actually if they were unsure of it selling, it does make sense to make less. It'd probably be worse to be stuck with a lot of stock that wasn't shifting. We've actually had stuff like this happen where I work.

We go ahead and produce something to a certain level to basically "break even" and not lose the development costs, especially if it happened to be announced a bit earlier like at an industry show like Nuremberg. The hope is that it'll do well enough to warrant producing more in the future. If it doesn't sell, you can be sure we're not going to be doing a lot more of that sort of product.

Still, I think it's good news they are making more of them and trying it out. The Ebay prices do seem to indicate some interest in more of these being released.

Ever get the idea that for years and years we bought our toys or other goods totally knowing that there were things beyond our knowledge base that controlled whether product gets made or not? Mattel is not some altruistic, tree-hugging company here to save the world. That ain't a bad thing. When did Green Peace kick out a bad ass action figure?

While I may not like that I am not going to get my obscure MOTUC vehicle made, I am not getting my furry loincloth in a bunch.

I think the Vykron figs are perfect for exclusives. This way, if yous guys don't want em, you don't have to have em in your sub or take up a monthly slot. Brilliant. That is a perfect exclusive in my humble opinion.

The whole Wind Raider excuse is a fabricated package of stale ring dings. My guess is somehow Mattel miscalculated something in thier initial pre-production and lost money on the Wind Raider in terms of tooling, paint apps, packaging, etc. vs. selling it at a fair price. If I recall, they bumped the price from $40 to $45. They probably hoped that the price increase would compensate for their miscalculations. I don't think Mattel intends to make another vehicle, especially if Granamyr doesn't sell well. And If they do, It will be much more than $45.

The whole Wind Raider excuse is a fabricated package of stale ring dings.

Except, it makes total sense as it's been laid out to us. And it was more of an explanation than an excuse. As I've said, something very much like that has happened where I work. There's really nothing terribly confusing or untrustworthy about what we were being told.

My guess is somehow Mattel miscalculated something in thier initial pre-production and lost money on the Wind Raider in terms of tooling, paint apps, packaging, etc. vs. selling it at a fair price. If I recall, they bumped the price from $40 to $45. They probably hoped that the price increase would compensate for their miscalculations. I don't think Mattel intends to make another vehicle, especially if Granamyr doesn't sell well. And If they do, It will be much more than $45.

Okay, let's just say this is true. Could you blame Mattel for not making more? Either way it's not profitable. I don't see what the difference would even be to us, as fans.

Except, it makes total sense as it's been laid out to us. And it was more of an explanation than an excuse. As I've said, something very much like that has happened where I work. There's really nothing terribly confusing or untrustworthy about what we were being told.

Okay, let's just say this is true. Could you blame Mattel for not making more? Either way it's not profitable. I don't see what the difference would even be to us, as fans.

If Mattel is so concerned about meeting goals and making their projected profit, Then they should do what needs to be done like... Raise the price and make more of them to get the most out of the tooling. The more they make, the more they sell --- the more it costs, the more Mattel makes. They already know we will pay anything for this stuff --- they have us by the nads --- I don't know what they are afraid of.

You can believe what you want but as far as I'm concerned there's what we are told by Mattel... and then there's the actual truth.

If Mattel is so concerned about meeting goals and making their projected profit, Then they should do what needs to be done like... Raise the price and make more of them to get the most out of the tooling. The more they make, the more they sell --- the more it costs, the more Mattel makes. They already know we will pay anything for this stuff --- they have us by the nads --- I don't know what they are afraid of.

That is all well and good but under that system one failure destroys the entire line, they are conservative for a reason.

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We weren't even able to sell enough Windraiders as is. There is just too much tooling involved and not enough customers to do more vehicles right now. Customer's vote with their purchase and the WR just did not sell well enough. We'll have to see how it does when it comes back this summer.

Yep, TG announced it a while back. I hope it does well! I'm actually considering getting another one... though I think I'm slightly insane for it. I kind of wouldn't mind another one to keep in box in case something happens to my opened one. It's just so cool! I did the same thing with Shadow Weaver. But I fear down that path lies... hoarding!

The one nice thing about WR is I could actually display it in-package.